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Post by teleadm on Aug 1, 2020 16:39:13 GMT
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Post by cynthiagreen on Aug 1, 2020 16:48:47 GMT
CALM WITH HORSES Just thought I’d give a shout out to this impressive first feature from director Nick Rowland from a Colin Barret story, adapted by Joseph Murtaugh – most absorbing film (classic or otherwise) I’ve seen for some time. 3-4 years in the making I gather but worth it (M Fassbender among the dozen or so names listed in some “producing” capacityy. )…... It had the misfortune to be released in UK in March this year the week the lockdown kicked in, so sadly never got the public reception it deserved despite massive critical YAYS (94% on ROTTEN…)
Loyalties amongst Irish gangsters is not a new subject for cinema, but it feels fresh and convincing as depicted here. An ex boxer - Douglas “Arm” Armstrong - working as muscle for the local drug mafia in rural Eire is unexpectedly tasked with his first hit – he is required kill a man who attempted to seduce the 14 year old daughter of his gang boss. Guilt, betrayal , families and friendships destroyed, and an ugly retribution seem inevitable….. Between “work” intimidating people - and being intimidated - “Arm” also struggles with being part time father to an autistic son, and an ex who wants to move away to Cork to give the son better support.
In Cosmo Jarvis a star is decisively born in the lead role…. He was in PEAKY BLINDERS and LADY MACBETH, neither of which I saw, so he’s new to me….but I think this his first lead…“sleepily carnal” was one critical verdict on him and they were not wrong…. Aspirants to cinematic stardom get the “new Brando” tag thrust upon them with the regularity of a metronome (see link below)… but Jarvis - on the basis of this - deserves it…. His character was as convincingly battered and bloodied in this as fellow pug Terry Malloy was at the finale in WATERFRONT, and in terms of physical presence he’s… well… simply Brando-esque….……the camera loves him as much as it did Marlon and no doubt that even though HORSES may not have make the commercial splash it should have he’ll be with us for a while and I predict he’ll be huge. He claims not to be interested in Superhero franchises and it would be nice to think he’ll live up to that… but didn’t Tom Hardy say something similar when he was newly minted? Incidentally he is American born to a US/Armenian mother and English father and raised in Totnes (Devon) … No Irish there at all despite his convincing turn here ………Barry Keoghan as the vicious nephew of Mr Big, and his immediate superior, and the rest of the largely unfamiliar cast do good work. Ireland has never looked lovelier onscreen, and the Blanck Mass soundtrack adds much to the tension.
I think it has been released in USA under the more pedestrian but less poetic title THE SHADOW OF VIOLENCE so keep a look out for it under that moniker, although feel free to write an angry email telling producers the film was good enough to sell under the less marketable original name…. On amazon prime to rent/purchase... no dvd release planned....
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Post by bravomailer on Aug 1, 2020 16:55:47 GMT
Motherless Brooklyn (2019) Directed by Edward Norton 8/10 Neo-noir film complete with cynical voiceover, guys in fedoras peering around corners, dangerous dames, smoke-filled night clubs, and the protagonist getting roughed up in an alley. Ed Norton is a junior partner in a PI firm whose honcho (Bruce Willis) is killed. His investigation leads him to the dark world of NYC renewal projects and politics. Outstanding art design. Cars, streets, and clothing look very 1950-ish except for Norton's '57 Chevy. Very odd. Reminiscent of Chinatown but worth seeing.
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Post by politicidal on Aug 1, 2020 17:00:40 GMT
Night of the Creeps (1986) 7/10
What We Do in the Shadows (2014) 5/10
The Las Vegas Story (1952) 6/10
Burden (2018) 7/10
The Tall Stranger (1957) 4/10
Lure of the Wilderness (1952) 6/10
Uncut Gems (2019) 8/10
Trespass (2011) 3/10
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Post by wmcclain on Aug 1, 2020 17:22:33 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Aug 1, 2020 18:41:28 GMT
This is the Tele week: X-Men: Apocalypse 2016. I've been a big fan of the X-Men movies, but this felt like a fill out. La morte accerezza a mezzanotte aka Death Walk at Midnight 1972. Italian thriller, fashion model uses hallonuciary drugs for kicks, sees a gruesome murder, did it happen across the street's empty office spaces? Nobody believes her, since traces are gone. This could have worked if the heroine was rational, instead she goes to very 70s disco places, and walks dark allies. Still not bad, and not as bloody as the poster indicates. Yet there are some too big holes unsolved when the movie finishes. Payroll aka I Promised to Pay (in USA) 1961, This was a damn good British crime movie, were a heist goes too violent, police chases and an angry grieving widow searching revenge, and a French Femme Fatale, and thieves falls out. I think the boring name "Payroll" must have fooled me to jump over it over the years. Solid British Crime movie, thankfully there are no real Gordie accents, or I wouldn't have understand a thing. (Newcastle) Watched the nearly 115 min version. Visa to Canton aka Passport to China 1960, a pre-Bond spy movie that curiously came from Hammer. Richard Basehart (whose career wasn't doing so well at the time) is a successful Hong Kong travel agent, forced to go into red China to clear a pilots name. The kind of story Patrick McGoohan's Danger Man John Drake and Roger Moore's The Saint could have fixed under an hour. Acceptable for a view if in the mood, if one is OK with actors in China make-up The Black Castle 1952 the presence of both Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr could indicate that this is a horror movie, it isn't it's more a who-done-it in old castle with a little swashbuckling and a few trap-doors. Perfect viewing on a slow day... The Wild North 1952, a man falsly accused of murder is chased all over the wild snowy north of Canada by a persistant Canadian Mountie. Lovely Cyd Charisse only appears in a few scenes as a native American, and certainly don't wear the clothes with black stockings as the poster indicates. Stewart Granger's fake French-Canadian accent becomes tiresome after awhile, great sceneries of snowy mountains in AnscoColour that might not be Canadian but Wyoming. Wendell Corey's character was based on a real person who did all things wrong but brought back the bad one. Not bad, but... Hangmen Also Die! 1943, Fritz Lang's angry reply after the assassination of Haydrich in Prague and it's aftermaths slaughtering of innocents. It's a highly fictional story that follows. Lang and Bertold Brecht created the story that is sadly a tad too long and too literate. Still it's a powerful movie, but with facts on hand, Czechs survived the Nazis, but got another power oppressing them for another 40 years or so. Brian Donlevy might look as a bad choice as the lead, too weak and not charismatic, but having seen the whole movie, it fits the character. King of the Underworld 1939, Bogart was on the way up and Francis was on her way down at this time. A lady doctor has to clear her name to be legally called a doctor, needs to confront a gangster to clear her name, and she does, in a very surprising way. Good tight stuff that Warner Bros could once do with ease, and only runs around 65 minutes. Well that was my week, how about you?
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cschultz2
Freshman
@cschultz2
Posts: 91
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Post by cschultz2 on Aug 1, 2020 23:25:39 GMT
“Radioactive” Distributed by StudioCanal, 110 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released July 24, 2020: “Radioactive” is almost precisely what you’d expect from a comic book version of the life and career of Marie and Pierre Curie, if the comic book were adapted into a movie. Told from the perspective of the 67-year-old Marie as she lies dying in a Paris hospital in 1934 and flashing back to significant moments in her life, the picture moves with a breathtaking pace, just like a comic book. Unfortunately, it moves in too many directions simultaneously. Adapted by British screenwriter and dramatist Jack Thorne from Lauren Redniss’ graphic novel “Radioactive: A Tale of Love and Fallout” and directed by Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian-born French illustrator and cartoonist known for the 2003 comic book “Persepolis” and the 2007 animated feature based on it, “Radioactive” depicts the life and work of the Polish-born scientist Marie Sklodowska (Rosamund Pike) and her romance and partnership with colleague Pierre Curie (Sam Riley). Despite the elaborate trappings, a reported $20 million-plus budget, some fine performances--especially from Rosamund Pike and Sam Riley--and international collaboration between Great Britain, France, Hungary, China, and the United States, “Radioactive” is decidedly not a sum of its parts, and actually contains very little information you didn’t already know from fourth grade history...and possibly even less than you learned in eleventh grade chemistry. Events are recounted with a shallowness familiar to anyone who’s ever read a comic book, and often framed by filmmaker Satrapi with a sort of barely-controlled creative hysteria that feels more appropriate to a Mad Magazine parody of an ostentatious biographical picture. Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle’s dark and almost colorless photography is sometimes reminiscent of the works of Rembrandt, but also renders the City of Light in dark, damp, and dirty tones--conspicuously unromantic especially during the scenes depicting the Curies’ romance and honeymoon. Interwoven with scenes depicting the eventual and frequently destructive future impact of their pioneering research in the field of physics, the film dramatizes the life and career of the Curies--their whirlwind romance and marriage, their discovery of radium and polonium, and the worldwide shifts in science and popular culture which occurred as a result. Because of the flashback structure of “Radioactive,” the narrative frequently becomes disjointed, and sometimes almost kaleidoscopic. Dramatizations of the Curies’ scientific breakthroughs are juxtaposed with sequences illustrating their often destructive uses half a century later. Pierre Curie’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1903, for example, is intercut with the 1945 nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. That the Hiroshima sequence is among the most harrowing nuclear attack depictions since “The Day After” is beside the point--the film’s juxtaposition of the images serves to minimize the historical impact of both events. Worse, some of the cross-cutting, scene-switching, and epoch-jumping is illogical, and even nonsensical. A scene showing Marie Curie cooking cereal for her daughters is intercut with a sequence depicting a nuclear test in the Nevada desert in 1960, juxtaposed in such a way that the viewer has to wonder whether Madame Curie is feeding her kids cobalt for breakfast. The most unfortunate casualty of director Satrapi’s piecemeal structure of “Radioactive” is Rosamund Pike’s performance as Marie Curie--we see only relatively brief flashes of a performance that in a more traditional narrative might’ve been a full-bodied and full-blooded, sympathetic, and even brilliant characterization. Unfortunately, what little we’re given is about 90% unsympathetic. Arrogance is one component of Curie’s personality, but it’s the component Satrapi leads with--one part of a performance that’s chopped up and served as a course on a buffet rather than as an entree. A militant feminist a full century before the era of #MeToo, Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie has no illusions or pretenses about her brilliance--her only problem is persuading others to accept it. Even when the Curies are nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1903, the nomination is in Pierre’s name only...an omission which causes friction in their marriage, although Pierre is quick to inform the Nobel Committee, “If we won, we won it together.” Still, as Marie notes to Pierre, “You have one of the finest minds I’ve ever met--it just so happens that mine is finer.” Almost defiantly unconventional in her choices of film roles, eschewing the trappings of a traditional contemporary movie star, Rosamund Pike is at her best in character roles which showcase her skills as an actress rather than her physical beauty...although her biggest and most financial successful films--”Jack Reacher” in 2012 is one, and 2014’s ”Gone Girl”--have emphasized both qualities. Pike was nominated for both Golden Globe and Director’s Guild Awards for her unglamorous role as real-life photojournalist Marie Colvin in 2018’s “A Private War”...after beginning her movie career as James Bond’s comely nemesis in the 2002 adventure “Die Another Day.” Unfortunately, what survives of Pike’s characterization in “Radioactive” is of a person who’s essentially unlikable, a fault multiplied when husband Pierre is trampled to death by a horse-drawn carriage in 1906 and Marie no longer can rely on his charm to smooth over her more abrupt impulses. So aggressively sensitive that she perceives hostility where none exists, Marie when offered a position at the prestigious Sorbonne university in Paris after Pierre’s death snaps at the trustees, “If you wish to give it to me as pity, don’t...It is not a job I want, but it is a job I will take.” You have to give her points for trying. But admiring Pike’s performance in the context of “Radioactive” is a little like admiring lettuce in the context of a Big Mac--one healthy ingredient is not going to redeem the entire sandwich. Unfocused, scattered, and sometimes almost laughably pretentious, “Radioactive” is one movie you might want to skip in favor of just reading the source material again...even if the source material is a comic book. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, disturbing images, brief nudity (Marie and Pierre indulge in a little skinny-dipping during their honeymoon), and a scene of sensuality, “Radioactive” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
“If I Stay” Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, 106 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released August 22, 2014: “If I Stay” is without shame, remorse, or apology a picture aimed straight at your tear ducts, presumably in the belief that a good crying spell is therapeutic and therefore cathartic for the spirit. And the picture mostly works hard to earn its tears honestly: The characters are attractive and appealing and likable, and the actors playing the characters also are attractive and likable. This is the rare picture which features no bad guys. Everybody’s a good guy. Based on Gayle Forman’s 2009 young adult novel of the same name, ‘If I Stay” chronicles the emotional experience of buttoned-up 17-year-old cello prodigy Mia Hall and her worlds-colliding romance with a free-spirited, up-and-coming young rock-and-roll guitarist named Adam. That both Mia and Adam are on the cusp of professional breakthroughs in their budding musical careers accounts for most of the ups and downs in their relationship. Unfortunately, their romance is in the middle of one of its downs when Mia and her family are involved in a catastrophic auto accident, casting Mia into an out-of-body experience a la “Between Two Worlds,” in which she can observe the people she loves but not communicate with them, or interfere with their actions. In this way, Mia’s able to view her life from a more objective perspective, and see the impact of her possible death on those she loves most. “If I Stay” is a picture that gives you the same kind of satisfaction you get from following your doctor's orders, eating the right cereal, taking your vitamins, or getting a flu shot: You might rather be watching “The Avengers” or one of the Star Wars pictures, but you suspect that a movie with this much cello music in it just has to be good for you. And it is fairly good. Young Mia has wonderful support from her parents, a set of amiably loopy former rockers played appealingly by Mirielle Enos and Joshua Leonard. Mia’s Love Generation folks grew up and embraced responsibility when it became apparent to them that the late nights and party lights of a rock ‘n roll lifestyle did not blend well with parenthood…an epiphany which makes even more perplexing their almost pushing young Mia out the door to be with her rocker boyfriend. As Mia’s rock guitarist boyfriend, Jamie Blackley somehow manages to be sullen without being pouty, simultaneously withdrawn and inarticulate about romance yet strong-willed and verbose about music. You can see why Mia’s attracted to Adam, although if you’re the parent of a teenager you might be more than a little conflicted about the two youngsters falling into bed quite so quickly. Unfortunately at some point about an hour into the picture the narrative becomes sticky and manipulative, almost maudlin, and the picture begins to rely on broad characterizations, familiar stereotypes, and the ghosts of movies past to sort of swindle the tears from the audience. And that's too bad, because by that point you might have decided you enjoy the picture, and are unprepared to modify your opinion. That the scene which begins the manipulation features a showcase moment for veteran actor Stacy Keach as Mia’s crusty and lovable old Grandpa makes the cheat seem that much more unexpected. Keach, much like the late Robert Loggia, always seems to be such an honest and dependable actor. Having said that, about 80% of the success of “If I Stay” belongs to young Chloe Grace Moretz in the central role as Mia. Moretz is earnest enough in her craft to make us care about young Mia even through her most puzzling and selfish interludes. Since beginning her career as the reluctant (and foul-mouthed) pint-size grade school superhero in 2010’s “Kick-Ass” and its 2013 sequel, young Moretz has matured into a charismatic and talented performer who always seems to be on the very cusp of a stellar career as a major star of motion pictures. You might just enjoy “If I Stay.” Check it out. “If I Stay” is rated PG-13 for thematic elements and some sexual material.
“7500” Distributed by Amazon Studios, 92 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released June 18, 2020:
Memories of September 11, 2001 might still be a little too raw for some viewers to truly enjoy “7500,” the new movie written and directed by German filmmaker Patrick Volrath and now playing on the Amazon Prime streaming service. But those nightmarish images and recollections might actually be the point of the picture--although the network describes “7500” as a thriller, during some sequences a disquieting sense of verisimilitude causes the picture to seem almost like psychological horror.
In “7500,” an international airliner flying from Berlin to Paris is commandeered by terrorists. The flight crew manages to expel the invaders from the cockpit and secure the door, but the plane’s captain is mortally wounded in the process. Also injured and bleeding, the flight’s first officer must take command of the plane and simultaneously negotiate with the terrorists and calm the passengers while guiding the plane to a secure destination.
Despite a few scenes and situations which will likely ring familiar to anyone who’s seen airborne disaster movies from 1954’s “The High and the Mighty” to 1980’s “Airplane!” taut direction and persuasive performances boost “7500” to a higher altitude than a run-of-the-mill adventure drama. In fact, the picture is a genuinely effective little thriller reminiscent of Paul Greengrass’ fact-based 9/11 docudrama “United 93” from 2006.
The picture establishes its credibility early with the opening sequence depicting eerily soundless black-and-while footage from an airport security camera--from that perspective, we all look like terrorists. And during the arrival of the flight crew, there’s a nice feeling of authenticity in the interactions between Paul Wollin’s captain and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s first officer--the usual jokey interplay switches to humorless professionalism as the flight crew runs through the preflight checklist, as solemn and unsmiling as surgeons performing delicate brain surgery.
The flying sequences too are depicted with a flair for stagecraft and lighting which belies the picture’s small budget and limited perspective (almost the entire movie takes place in the airliner’s tiny cockpit). The takeoff sequence in particular is startlingly realistic despite an absolute minimum of special optical effects. Whether the viewer considers air travel an adventure or a nuisance, this is one movie that gets the essence of the experience right.
The second third of the movie switches gears and really gets down to business. As the terrorists attack and are repelled from the flight deck and confined to the plane’s cabin along with the unprotected crew and passengers, “7500” becomes more of a suspense drama mixed with psychological horror. The terrorists’ incessant banging on the reinforced door to gain re-entry to the flight deck suggests the same persistent menace as the zombies doing much the same thing with earth’s solitary human survivor in 1964’s seminal “The Last Man on Earth.”
Although “7500” has a running time of only 92 minutes, the picture seems much longer...mostly because it goes on for a full 25 minutes after the point when every fiber of your moviegoing experience tells you it should end. During the picture’s third act “7500” in effect becomes a colloquy, a dramatic face-off between Gordon-Levitt’s First Officer Ellas and Murathan Muslu’s frightened and confused young terrorist, Kenan. The picture also loses a few points for finally ending more or less the way you figured it would, but by that point you might actually be too pooped from the movie’s intensity to care.
While Patrick Vollrath the writer can use a little more seasoning and experience in his craft--especially with narrative structure--Patrick Vollrath the director shows enormous promise in his first effort as a feature filmmaker (the director has a number of award-winning short subjects already on his professional resume). Vollrath is one filmmaker who plainly knows how to stage a scene for maximum effect. The fight scenes in the cockpit between the flight crew and the terrorists especially contain the same claustrophobic savagery as the train compartment brawl between Sean Connery and Robert Shaw in 1963’s “From Russia With Love.”
But “7500” works best as a showcase for actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. With his quietly mature and authoritative performance as Flight 7500’s first officer, Gordon-Levitt at age 39 begins to finally shed the boyish image he’s possessed since his days on “3rd Rock from the Sun” in the 1990s.
Viewers who recall Gordon-Levitt’s astonishing recreation of Donald O’Connor’s legendary “Make ‘Em Laugh” act from “Singin’ in the Rain” live on TV’s SNL in 2009 already know he’s one performer who’ll give everything he has to put on a good show (at the end of SNL’s “Make ‘Em Laugh” performance, the actor collapsed exhausted to the stage). In “7500,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt contributes still another act which will be tough to follow, and nearly impossible to top.
Rated PG-13 for violence and some intense sequences, “7500” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
“The Vast of Night” Distributed by Amazon Studios, 89 Minutes, Rated PG-13, Released May 29, 2020:
Energetic direction, spirited performances, and excellent production values elevate “The Vast of Night” several steps above the 1950s drive-in movie fodder it purports to emulate, in the process making this agreeably creepy little picture almost a drive-in classic of its own.
Set in the 1950s, in “The Vast of Night” (even the title sounds like a Stephen King short story), when a mysterious radio signal interrupts life in tiny Cayuga, New Mexico on the night of the high school’s big basketball game, the local radio station’s disc jockey and an intrepid 16-year-old switchboard operator try to locate the source...which as the seconds tick by appears more and more to be something from another world.
Filmed in and around Whitney, Texas and framed as an episode of a 50s-era Twilight Zone-like television show called “Paradox Theater,” this nifty little potboiler evokes memories of practically every black-and-white science fiction cheapie you’ve ever seen, from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ to “The Day the Earth Stood Still”...but borrows or steals from practically none of them. This picture sets its own exacting standards and possesses its own unique personality and appeal.
Directed in his feature movie debut by Oklahoma filmmaker Andrew Patterson from a script--or rather a “teleplay,” according to the credits for Paradox Theater--by Craig W. Sanger and James Montague (a pseudonym for director Patterson), “The Vast of Night” is even canny enough to employ a dramatic technique from the days of radio dramas like Orson Welles’ legendary 1938 “The War of the World” radio broadcast in 1938--the filmmaker occasionally allows the screen to fade to black and focus on the soundtrack and dialogue. It’s a disquieting effect, and it works beautifully in the framework of the narrative. Patterson is one young director who knows how to punch a viewer’s buttons.
Loosely based on two actual incidents involving alleged interactions with UFOs and featuring likable performances from movie newcomer Jake Horowitz as the DJ and former child actress Sierra McCormick as the teenager, “The Vast of Night” is secure enough in its rich drive-in movie heritage to be released theatrically on May 15 to regional drive-in theaters prior to its “official” release on pay-per-view and the Amazon Prime streaming service on May 29. The picture is earning glowing reviews from the critics, including an approval rating of 92% from Rotten Tomatoes and an average score of 82% from Metacritic, indicating rare universal acclaim.
Director and co-writer Patterson reportedly financed “The Vast of Night” with money he earned producing television commercials for the Oklahoma City Thunder professional basketball team. Filmed in four weeks during the autumn of 2016, Patterson spent over a year editing the picture before submitting it to the annual Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, which showcases emerging filmmakers and low-budget independent productions. After its exhibition at Slamdance, distribution rights for the picture were acquired by Amazon Studios.
Currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, “The Vast of Night” is rated PG-13 for sequences of science fiction intensity.
“Space Force” Distributed by Netflix, 10 Episodes of 27-36 Minutes, Not Rated, Streaming from May 29, 2020:
Baby Boomers of a certain age will certainly recall with special fondness the Golden Days of Mad Magazine during the 1960s. Mad Magazine during that turbulent decade was the unquestioned arbiter of lowbrow humor for the nation’s delinquent youth.
Each month, Mad would present a parody of a popular television show or movie in current circulation. With writing by Frank Jacobs, Dick DeBartolo, or Larry Siegel, scenes and panels rendered in loving pen-and-ink cartoon by such legends of the genre as Mort Drucker, Wallace Wood, or the great Jack Davis, and titles like “Balmy and Clod” for 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Botch Casually and the Somedunce Kid” for 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” no joke was too low nor any pun to tortured for a Mad Magazine parody.
If Mad Magazine had turned its attention to the present state of the United States military under the command of the Accidental President, the result might’ve looked a lot like “Space Force,” the new 10-episode comedy series now streaming on Netflix. Created by former “Parks and Recreation,” “The Office,” “The Simpsons” and SNL writer Greg Daniels in collaboration with all-around funny guy Steve Carell (who also stars in the show) ”Space Force” is a sort of elbow-in-the-ribs kidding of the sixth and youngest branch of the US Armed Forces.
In “Space Force,” Steve Carell stars as General Mark Naird, “the former number two at the Air Force” and aide to USAP Chief of Starr Kick Grabaston, selected over his former boss to become the very first Chief of Space Operations for the brand-new branch of the US military. So obtuse and uncompromising that he signs personal notes “Four-Star General Naird” and right-turns and about-faces even when getting out of bed for a drink of water, the new director is tasked with establishing Space Force (and his reluctant family) at their new base of operations in Wild Horse Colorado.
Assisting Naird in establishing the Space Force is scientist Dr. Adrian Mallory, played by actor John Malkovich with his signature withering sarcasm and acidic observations. A civilian advisor to the military who in the convoluted order of the military bureaucracy technically outranks Naird on certain scientific matters (such as the authority to occasionally ‘scrub’ missions), Mallory is repeatedly, and often loudly, skeptical to the type of reasoning he terms “military jackassery.” Naird at one point chastises Mallory with the words, “As a scientist you have a loyalty to reason...which makes you a little untrustworthy.”
“Space Force” supporting cast members include the talented Diana Silver, familiar from her appearances in the films “Booksmart” and “Glass,” as Naird’s teenage daughter Erin, who’s quietly furious at being uprooted from cosmopolitan Washington DC to the frontier of Wild Horse Colorado, Jimmy O. Yang as Dr. Chan, Mallory’s equally-sarcastic assistant, Tawny Newsome as Space Force pilot and astronaut Angela Ali, who’s also an occasional babysitter for Erin, and the hilarious Ben Schwartz as smarmy social media director F. Tony Scarapiducci, casually called by a nickname unprintable here but easily figured out by glancing at his first initial.
Recurring characters in the series include testosterone-crazed USAP General Kick Grabaston, Don Lake as Brigadier General Gregory, Naird’s aide, a hilariously unbalanced Lisa Kudrow as Maggie Naird, General Naird’s institutionalized wife, the preternaturally clueless Diedrich Bader as Army Chief of Staff General Rongley, and Alex Sparrow as Captain Yuri Telatovich, a Russian Air Force liaison who likes to be called Bobby. Comic actor Fred Willard, in his final role, also appears occasionally as Naird’s elderly and addled father.
The genius of “Space Force” is that the show is able to depict with remarkable accuracy an image of the youngest branch of the military as a seven-year-old child might imagine it, while still delivering satiric punch through wry, dry, and straight-faced observations about virtually anything and everything--including, but not limited to, political and military bureaucracy, family life, personal interrelationships, international rivalry, regional pop culture, and life on the scientific frontier.
During an early mission, the scientific staff is alarmed to learn that the spacecraft’s payload includes ten assault rifles “ordered by POTUS himself so that the Manchester Arms Company can advertise the R-9 as the Official Space Force gun.” Touring Space Force’s headquarters, one character refers to a building as the place “where Dr. Banner works with gamma rays.” And in one sidesplitting episode the branch’s general staff is advised the First Lady herself will be designing the new Space Force uniforms...complete with capes (“She knows we’re not Avengers...right?” wonders one perplexed officer).
At its best, “Space Force” walks gingerly along the narrow path between the outrageously absurd and the type of bureaucratic nonsense you can almost imagine occurring, the same inspired silliness seen in “M*A*S*H” (the 1970 Robert Altman movie, not the beloved television series) or even in the pages of Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22.” Episodes 1 and 2 are especially funny, depicting the origins of the new service branch and their first major mission to launch the (very expensive) Epsilon One satellite and its animal crew--a mission eventually disabled by the Chinese, who clip the solar panels from the craft in a sort of interstellar act of pantsing.
Unfortunately, from somewhere around Episode 5, depicting a war games contest between Space Force and the USAF which actually becomes more of a battle of the exoskeletons, “Space Force” descends into the realm of updated service comedy, little different--or better--than old TV series from “Sergeant Bilko” and “McHale’s Navy” to “Hogan’s Heroes” and even “Gomer Pyle USMC”--with more adult-oriented language and situations, of course. But thankfully the series recovers its momentum, and its whimsical punch, in time for the series finale in Episodes 8 through 10.
With only ten episodes (so far) filmed for streaming on Netflix, individual episodes feature running times of between 27 and 36 minutes...or apparently until the writers ran out of funny lines to put into the mouths of the show’s characters. If the new series has a fault, it might be that certain episodes occasionally feel as if they’re being made up as they go along, unusual for a project occasionally requiring relatively elaborate special effects. But of course, no expense is too high for the Space Force. And keep an eye on the background--as in Mad Magazine, there’s often something funny going on there too.
Even in the worst of its episodes, though, “Space Force” marks a welcome return to form, and television comedy, for series co-creator and star Steve Carell. Even when Carell seems to be channeling George C. Scott as General Patton--which he tends to do a lot in “Space Force”--it’s good to have him back, showing us that even during the present sorry state of the world there are still a few things we can chuckle about. Television comedy was always among Carell’s greatest strengths, and in “Space Force” he steps up to the plate and bats one into orbit...literally.
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Post by OldAussie on Aug 2, 2020 1:05:25 GMT
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Post by cynthiagreen on Aug 2, 2020 1:15:12 GMT
Non spolierish comments on THE GOOD LIAR welcome - should I adjust my high expectations?
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Post by OldAussie on Aug 2, 2020 1:25:57 GMT
cynthiagreenEntertaining but I have doubts about the ending.....6/10. Can't go into details.
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Post by bravomailer on Aug 2, 2020 1:26:54 GMT
Red Sun (1971) 6/10 A western with Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress, and Capucine? Yep. A Japanese emissary is robbed of his sword by a train robber, who also double crossed a gang member. So, Bronson and Mifune go after him - one does so out of vengeance, the other out of honor. You can guess who had which motive. Great premise, so-so script. After watching them wander through the West for an hour, I wondered where the hell Andress and Capucine were. Then I predicted they'd be working a bawdy house in the next town. Sure enough.... Man, Capucine was lovely! I've read that John Huston thought highly of this.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 2, 2020 4:02:53 GMT
Red Sparrow (2018). The Constant Gardener (2005). Logan Noir (2017). Irrational Man (2015). Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).
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Post by jeffersoncody on Aug 2, 2020 4:57:50 GMT
Non spolierish comments on THE GOOD LIAR welcome - should I adjust my high expectations? I thoroughly enjoyed THE GOOD LIAR cynthia. My rating: 7,5 out of 10. Of course. I never go into any film with high expectations - I just plunge in with an open mind and see what the picture does for me.
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Post by claudius on Aug 2, 2020 9:13:58 GMT
Sunday FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: THE CONQUEROR OF SHAMBALLA (2005) 15TH ANNIVERSARY The conclusion of the 2003-2004 Anime adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s at the time unfinished Manga (the creators were given her blessing to make their own ending) finds Edward Elric trapped in the real world- specifically Germany in November 1923. He deals with strangers in familiar faces (the Maes Hughes of this reality is a racist Nazi; Fuhrer Bradley is Fritz Lang. Yes, THE Fritz Lang!), gypsies, occult societies, and Nazis (this occurs around Hitler’s unsuccessful Putsch), while in his world, the now human Alphonse tries to find a way to reunite with his brother. Boy, did I watch this movie a lot! As the series was ending its US Broadcast on Cartoon Network in April 2006, I bought a Bootleg DVD and watched it on the same day I saw the final episode. Despite a lot of backlash from fans (mainly because of its almost lack of romantic resolutions), I always considered myself a fan of this film. Silent film fans might enjoy Japanese Animated portraits of Lang’s DIE NIBELUNGEN: SIEGFRIED (1924), although they made Margaret Schon look more feminine than she was portrayed in that film. Japanese with English Subtitles. Funimation DVD.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1940) 80TH ANNIVERSARY Hollywood’s version of the Jane Austen novel with Laurence Olivier as Darcy and Greer Garson as Elizabeth with Melville Cooper, Edmund Gwenn, Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, Anne Rutherford, and Maureen O’Sullivan. Based on a play adaptation, this version has been infamous for several alterations- Mr. Collins is now a secular gentleman (Hollywood didn’t wish to offend the Church), Lady Catherine becomes Darcy’s ally (her clash with Elizabeth is here a test of character rather than a warning), and the period was moved up so the cast can wear clothing more appropriate for GONE WITH THE WIND then Regency England (lots of Hoop skirts). Warner DVD.
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (2018) Ron Howard’s STAR WARS One-shot on the early adventures of Han Solo and his first meetings with Chewbacca, Lando, and the Milennium Falcon. TNT Broadcast.
Monday SHAKESPEARE’S AN AGE OF KINGS (1960) “Henry IV: Rebellion from the North” 60TH ANNIVERSARY this year. The series heads to HENRY II: PART I with Tom Fleming as the now King Henry, Robert Hardy as his wayward son Prince Hal, Frank Pettingell as Falstaff, Sean Connery as Hotspur, and Angela Baddeley as Mother Quality. BBC Video DVD.
Tuesday MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING (1995) “Betrayed By Home, Far Away!” 25TH ANNIVERSARY The outlaw Gundams attempt to return to space, only to find that the colonies are being slowly influenced (via a disguised Lady Une) by OZ to turn on them. Quatre blows up his Gundam Sandrock. Japanese with English Subtitles. Bandai DVD.
THE SLAYERS (1995) “QUESTION! He’s Proposing to That Girl?” 25TH ANNIVERSARY. The last of the filler episodes has Gourry dressing up in drag in order to secretly board a ship to Sairaag. One scene is lifted from the title sequence of ROSE OF VERSAILLIES, a hint that I didn’t realize until I watched that series. Japanese with English Subtitles. Software Sculptors DVD.
Wednesday DADDY LONG LEGS (1990) “Snow Falling on a Window” 30TH ANNIVERSARY Japanese with English Subtitles. Bootleg DVD.
SHAKESPEARE’S AN AGE OF KINGS (1960) “Henry IV: “The Road to Shrewsbury” 60TH ANNIVERSARY this year. PART I’S conclusion with the Battle of Shrewsbury, as James Bond and Siegfried Famon/Winston Churchill/Cornelius Fudge fight to the death. BBC Video DVD.
Thursday THE ROSE OF VERSAILLIES (1980) “The Watchword is ‘Au Revoir!’” 40TH ANNIVERSARY. The growing violence in Paris, the National Assembly’s refusal to back down and TPTB’s refusal to accept their needs for reform leads the pro-Assembly Oscar and the pro-Royalist Marie Antoinette to reach an irreconcilable parting of ways. Japanese with English Subtitles. RightStuf DVD.
A WILD HARE (1940) 80TH ANNIVERSARY this month. The first official Bugs Bunny short, establishing his relationship with Elmer Fudd (although the following shorts still went through some changes). This is from an unrestored print that was used as part of TNT’s WHAT’S UP DOC? A TRIBUTE TO BUGS BUNNY marathon (1990), which has the original ‘Carole Lombard?’ line. Warner DVD.
Friday SHAKESPEARE’S AN AGE OF KINGS (1960) “Henry IV: A New Conspiracy” 60TH ANNIVERSARY this month. HENRY IV: PART II is adapted, with Angela Baddeley’s sister Hermoine (Mrs. Cratchit from 1951) as Doll Tearsheet. BBC Video DVD.
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN (2013) “The Will of Stone” English Dubbed. Viz Media DVD.
Saturday DIXIANA (1930) 90TH ANNIVERSARY RKO Musical set in the Old South, starring Bebe Daniels, Wheeler & Woolsey, and Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson. First saw parts of this on American Movie Classics back in the 1990s, especially the final Two-strip Technicolor Act set to Mardi Gras. Roan Group DVD.
Earliest this month: HIGH AND DIZZY (1920) Latest this month: SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (2018)
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Post by mikef6 on Aug 2, 2020 18:57:36 GMT
Room Service / William A. Seiter (1938). RKO Radio Pictures. An anomaly as the only Marx Brothers movie not written especially for the trio. It was adopted from a door slamming Broadway farce that had closed the previous year after running 61 weeks. The plot is the oft used story of a theatrical entrepreneur trying to find funding for his new show and fending off enemies and creditors until his play can be seen and become a hit. Gordon Miller (Groucho) is the producer hold up in a hotel room owing over $1,000 for his room and 22 cast members. Benilli (Chico), Bunion in the play, is always introduced as Miller’s treasurer. He was the director of the play within the play in the original but who can imagine Chico as a stage director? Harpo is a man without a character but works in some of his surreal pantomime episodes which are some of the highlights. Harking back to “The Coconuts” (1929) when he ate a sponge, buttons off a bellhop’s uniform, and drank out of an inkwell, here he picks up a wrapped sandwich and eats it, wax paper and all. For all the frantic situations and screaming, arm-waving tantrums, the movie seems to last forever. It doesn’t have the forward thrust in absurdity that the best Marxism has. Groucho manages the lines well enough, but Chico can’t get all of them out in his faux Italian accent. Further, while Groucho is a usually a pomposity puncturer and minor con man who would like to marry the rich widow, Gordon Miller is an actual criminal, committing outright fraud several times. I was pleased to see this again after many years – I am always glad to sit down with the Marx Brothers – but it will probably be many more years before popping this into my player again. Lucille Ball and Ann Miller are in the cast but Lucy isn’t funny and Ann doesn’t dance. Another strike against it. No Dad Bod for Harpo at age 50 Dark Alibi / Phil Karlson (1946). Monogram Pictures. Cinematography by William Sickner. This movie came relatively late in the Charlie Chan film cycle. If you are counting, it is #38 of 47 and for Sidney Toler as Chan it was #19 of 22. Director Phil Karlson was just starting out directing programmers at the Poverty Road studio Monogram. “Dark Alibi” was just #7 of a career total of 50. The direction and cinematography is pretty much straight forward with a couple of spots that show some flair, mainly an opening scene bank robbery. Taking a cue from the Warner Oland “Charlie Chan In London,” Charlie, accompanied by #3 son Tommy (Benson Fong) and his driver Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland), takes on the task of clearing a man who is due to be executed for murder in 9 days. Mantan Moreland still does his patented bug-eyed afraid-of-the-dark routine but shines as a master comic actor, especially in two scenes where he is paired with his former vaudeville partner Ben Carter in a classic comedy piece. Moreland and Carter also perform this style comedy in the Michael Shayne mystery “Dressed To Kill” (1941). Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest did a recurring bit on Saturday Night Live in the mid-1980s that was very reminiscent of what Moreland and Carter are doing in this Charlie Chan, the ”I Hate When That Happens” routine. Not a bad way to kill an hour during quarantine. My first movie to watch on the free streaming source Tubi. The Caine Mutiny / Edward Dmytryk (1954). Columbia Pictures. Produced by Stanley Kramer. There is plenty right and plenty wrong with “The Caine Mutiny.” Let’s begin with the wrong which appears right up front under the titles with a military march woven with the strains of “Anchors Away” like a 1940s wartime propaganda film. I sure they did it to obtain Navy cooperation in filming Herman Wouk’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel which was critical of the military. When an early showing at the Pentagon pleased all the Admirals and Generals attending, producer Stanley Kramer felt that he had failed. Another major Wrong is a script that has the mutineers doubting at the end if they were right or wrong. They were right in everything and the wishy-washy conclusion was another concession to the U.S. Navy. What’s good? A script that could have been a little tighter but allows several fine actors to do great work. That would be Van Johnson as the second in command of the Caine who must make a fateful decision, Fred MacMurray as the (possibly inadvertent) instigator of the mutiny, and Humphrey Bogart as the immortal Captain Queeg, taking instead of a total cruel Captain Bligh tyrant approach, bringing out all the man’s doubts and insecurities that hide behind his would-be fearsome demeanor. The last quarter of the film, the court-martial, had already been mounted as a two-act play on Broadway and is the climactic moment. The key sequence is Queeg’s meltdown on the stand shot in extreme close-up. On the day it was filmed, the crew burst into spontaneous applause when “Cut” was called. TWO OF MY FAVORITE STORIES FROM NEW WHO. BOTH WERE ORIGINALLY IN TWO PARTS AND RUN THE LENGTH OF A FEATURE FILM Doctor Who: New Series S.1 Ep. 9 “The Empty Child” May 5, 2006. Doctor Who: New Series S.1 Ep. 10 “The Doctor Dances” May 12, 2006. Directed by James Hawes, Written by Steven Moffat, Music by Murray Gold. The Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) follow a piece of time shifting space junk until it crashes in 1941 in the middle of wartime London. There, they come across a little boy wearing a gas mask who asks, “Are you my mummy?” But wait! Don’t touch him! He is carrying a strange otherworldly malady that could threaten the human race. Hits close to home in 2020. Doctor Who: New Series S. 3 Ep. 8 “Human Nature” May 26, 2007. Doctor Who: New Series S. 3 Ep. U8 “The Family Of Blood” June 2, 2007. Directed by Charlie Palmer, Written by Paul Cornell, Music by Murray Gold The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) disguises himself as a human by draining himself of all Time Lord characteristics including him memory of who he is. A race of evil parasites called The Family wants the secret of time travel. Martha (Freema Agyeman) must look after The Doctor and restore him after The Family dies out. But they are hot on The Doctor’s trail. The story is set at an English Public School in a year near the start of World War I. FILM NOIR TELEVISION Dangerous Assignment Ep. 35 “The Venetian Story” 1952. 39 episodes total. This one season syndicated half hour adventure drama starred Brian Donlevy as government agent Steve Mitchell. Donlevy had originated the role on radio in 1940. I remember the title sequence very well from childhood. We see Donlevy walking a foggy street toward the camera. He pauses under a street light in the foreground and puffs a cigarette. Suddenly, a thrown knife sticks into the lamp post. Donlevy gives it a quick look then ducks out of the frame. Cut to the main title. In this adventure, Mitchell travels to Venice to try and recover a valuable part to a code machine that had been lost in a canal. He meets up with a couple of thugs who couldn’t have been more welcome as they are played by James Griffith and Strother Martin. As Mitchell says about them at the finish: “Those who play both ends against the middle often end up on the bottom.” The Lone Wolf. Ep. 15 “The Las Vegas Story” July 16, 1954. 39 episodes total. A one season syndicated half hour adventure drama starred Louis Hayward as Michael Lanyard, The Lone Wolf. While visiting Las Vegas, Lanyard makes a date with Dena (Nancy Gates) but on his way runs into an old pal, Steber (Paul Langton). Langton is a detective on the San Francisco force in town to find a fugitive – his own brother. Feeling bad about the task he asks Lanyard to track down the brother for him. Seems simple enough until murder and double-crosses raise their ugly heads. Hayward plays The Lone Wolf as a true tough guy who doesn’t take being lied to lightly. The Lone Wolf had earlier been an eight picture movie series from 1939-1943. That series was a copycat of The Falcon films which was , in turn, a copycat of The Saint movies. Louis Hayward, Lanyard is this last gasp of The Lone Wolf, was the first actor to play The Saint. Thus, a circle has closed. Louis Hayward and Dona Drake
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Aug 2, 2020 21:43:29 GMT
Hi all,I hope everyone is having a good weekend,and last month I had a marathon viewing of works from this filmmaker. Run! Seijun Suzuki Run! Repeat viewings: 1:Voice Without a Shadow (1958)8 2:Our Blood Will Not Forgive (1964)10 3:Branded To Kill (1967)10 First time views: 4: Eight Hours of Terror (1957)7 On the fifth title he made being credited under his real name and working with regular cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka for the third time, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki takes an early surf on the Japanese New Wave (JNW) with his distinctive, hip and quirky ultra-stylisation,listening to the conversations the passengers have before they set off behind the long leg of a woman placed at the centre of the screen. Getting on the bus with a excellent ensemble cast,Suzuki displays a wonderful early ease of twisting the looming shadows of a Film Noir atmosphere with his unique off-beat comedic asides, rolling the bus down in stark strands of light turning the tension among the passengers to boiling point, and rolling it up with panning shots towards a couple trying to keep their words under breath, not only due to being worried about a trench coat-wearing baddie, but also afraid their partners will catch them red handed having a affair. Cheekily having a passenger say she is travelling to attend a "New Faces" contest being held by a major studio, (Nikkatsu used New Faces contest to find the next upcoming stars) the screenplay by Goro Tanada,Rokuro Tsukiji & Koichi Saito (who later directed the magnificent The Rendezvous (1972-also reviewed) ticket the shuttle bus takeover by two hard-nose Noir gangsters, with a thrilling Road Movie microcosm of post-war Japanese society. Igniting a row on the bus from a passenger telling others to stop singing "Red Songs", the writers listen in on sharp JNW- flavoured dialogue and situations, openly dropping Westerns references in exchanges,a baby being held at gunpoint (!) and a bickering old timer telling a younger passenger that he should not be unemployed, due to the man (wrongly) believing the same chances he had still exists on the eight hour ride of terror. 5:The Boy Who Came Back (1958)8 Bringing the boy back at a crossroads between Nikkatsu's sun-tribe/teenager genre and the incoming Diamond Guys/ Film Noir, the screenplay by Nobuyoshi Terada and Tatsuto Okada brilliantly thread both genres together, by placing Kasahara between being a rebellious sun-tribe teen firmly on the wrong side of the tracks, and increasingly edging towards being a Diamond Guys/ Film Noir loner, who along with running the odds of facing the long arm of the law, also risks washing away the few people he holds dear. Joined by Jo Shishido working with the film maker for the first time before he got branded to kill, Akira Kobayashi gives a terrific, agitated performance as Kasahara, whose angry young man Kobayashi has touch on the isolating state of the Film Noir loner, that is balanced by a melancholy thoughtfulness Kobayashi has Kasahara bring out when near Midorikawa. Reaching her hand out to Kasahara, Sachiko Hidari gives a elegant performance as Midorikawa, who Hidari has hold firm a sincerity of helping to improve his life, even against the multiple times Kasahara pushes her away. Dancing with Midorikawa and Kasahara in the Jazz clubs left by American forces, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki & cinematographer Yoshihiro Yamazaki find tunes within the studio system to play early Japanese New Wave notes, hit in hand held camera tracking shots running down with Midorikawa, which twists to a ultra-stylised beat-down Kasahara takes on a outdoor steel staircase. Tapping the lively mood gripping the couple in the Jazz clubs with slick panning shots across the dance floor, Suzuki brings them together on both sides of the tracks with graceful long wide-shots following the couple along the urban landscape as the boy comes back. 6:The Sleeping Beast Within (1960)10 The first of two back to back productions that use a newsroom as a prominent setting, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki goes to the printers with occasional collaborator of this period cinematographer Shigeyoshi Mine for hot off the presses Film Noir atmosphere. Looking down the starboard as a drug bundle sails into the country, Suzuki twists his distinctive surrealist Japanese New Wave motifs into Film Noir grit, peeling back the flashbacks with mesmerising in-camera tricks dissolves frames of the person talking onto the overlapping flashbacks taking place. Continuing to build on his major recurring motifs by rolling the camera with Kasai and Keiko out of the hip youthful Jazz clubs and out to the brittle urban landscape, where the stench of corruption hangs on the thick cut black and white shadows lining the streets, Suzuki burns down the façade of moral authority with a blazing final that destroys each level of corruption Kasai found. Casting a uncomfortable smile across his face like Joker, Shinsuke Ashida gives a thrilling performance as Junpei,who Ashida has mask his activates with a false fatherly calm towards his daughter Keiko, (played by a wonderfully understated Kazuko Yoshiyuki) which cracks at the edges each time Keiko's boyfriend reporter Kasai (played by a energetic Hiroyuki Nagato) gets closer to breaking the story. Spoofing Nikkatsu's "Sun-Tribe" genre flicks with a crime syndicate run by a "Sun God" cult inside a temple, the screenplay by Ichiro Ikeda (who joined with Suzuki on Youth of the Beast (1963)) & Itaru Kikumura brilliantly continue to build the major theme of Suzuki's credits from this era, of the generational divide and the youth challenging the false authority of the prior generation, as the crusading Kasai chips at Junpei's grin,to expose the sleeping beast. 7:Smashing the 0-Line (1960)8 Being the one crew member who remained with the director across his Nikkatsu period, editor Akira Suzuk'si collaboration with directing auteur Seijun Suzuki takes a whirlwind progression in their experimental Film Noir stylisation, with a striking French New Wave-flavoured influence of razor sharp jump-cuts, smash-cuts and fluid hand held panning shots getting up-close to Katori's rush to grab the big story. Sailing to the rusting port of Yokohoma, Seijun Suzuki lands and continues to explore his major recurring theme from this era of Film Noir pessimism in the outdoor locations of urban Japan. Suzuki unleashes a storming set-piece tracking Katori (played by a excellent,brittle Hiroyuki Nagao) slithering the docks to a smugglers ship, where Suzuki brings in a smog Film Noir atmosphere, made from shoving Katori and the camera into the piles of coal covering the ship, only picking up Katori to take him down long claustrophobic corridor shots, where black and white grime covers the walls as the shipmates confront Katori when his motives for being on the ship are found. Reuniting with Suzuki after Eight Hours of Terror (1957-also reviewed) Goro Tanada takes the sliver of hope from The Sleeping Beast Within, and along with Yasuro Yokoyama (the other credited writers are aliases for unknowns) wipes it all out. The writers present the upstanding morals of fellow journalist Nishina, get stamped over by Katori's amoral arrogance, which reveals itself when Katori plants drugs on a dame he has just bedded, allows his sister to be abused by gangs, and sees little wrong about working with a drug smuggler, as long as the one thing that remains intact,Is his singular vision to smash the o line. 8:Tokyo Knights (1961)7 In only the second title he had made in colour at the time, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki and occasional cinematographer collaborator Kazue Nagatsuka display an infectious love for the format by using it to expand on Suzuki's early Japanese New Wave (JNW) surrealist stylisation. Marking a end to his earlier gritty Film Noir era, Suzuki casts a Pop Art atmosphere of hip wipes and pop-up shots darting across the screen to the beat of Matsubara's (played by a lively Koji Wada) Jazz club arrangement, (Jazz being a major recurring theme in Suzuki's credits) which rolls out to a psychedelic JNW song number, and a Caper-style chase with a Noh theater mask. Originally titled The Lost Cufflinks, the screenplay by Kenzaburo Hara & Iwao Yamazaki slickly presents the constant genre-crossing flux that Suzuki would later become known for. The writers bring the young loner, multi-talented Matsubara back to Japan to hit the top marks in a high school Drama, which crosses over to a jaunty Caper mystery of Matsubara discovering during his break from classes the cause of his dad "accidentally" falling to his death,when he gets hold of the lost cufflinks. 9:The Man with a Shotgun (1961)6 Building on his surrealist styling, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki reunites with his regular cinematographer of the era Shigeyoshi Mine for a open borders Western, where Suzuki and Mine criss-cross bright burning colours between the Wild West and modern society,which jump from traditional shoot outs to target practice of alarm clocks and modern-dressed outlaw bikers. Continuing his long collaboration with editor Akira Suzuki (no relation) Suzuki continues to show an eye for filming outdoors with fluid camera moves running across the floor to the outlaws, which hit a ultra-stylised use of mirrors, as Suzuki creates two-shots with small mirrors reflecting the face of the second person. Sending Ryoji into a sleepy lawless mountain town, the screenplay by Satoru Suyama,Takeo Matsuura & Yoshikazu Ishii has a chance to hit the bullseye on a off-beat Western, but sadly miss the mark by due to a sleepy casualness being given to Ryoji confrontation with the local outlaws, instead a much needed shot of urgency for the man with a shotgun. 10:The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass (1961)7 Returning to the roaming road movie he had touched on with Eight Hours of Terror (1957-also reviewed), directing auteur Seijun Suzuki continues to display a keen interest in his early colour era of breaking away from his gritty black and white Film Noir era, with a surprisingly jaunty atmosphere. Reuniting with cinematographer Saburo Isayama, Suzuki continues to expand in his interest in filming on real locations, with glorious wide-shots scanning the skyline as wandering student Shintaro (played with a sweet warmth by Koji Wada,who made 7 films with Suzuki) runs into a travelling magic troupe. Taking full advantage of the troupes job, Suzuki continues to paint his distinctive colourful surrealist styling,with an outstanding set-piece throwing colour tinted lighting into the middle of a punch-up, and the magic troupe catching the eyes of all costumers, with their shimmering bright outfits against lively festive locations. Pushing miss-dealings with a gangster right to the sidelines, the screenplay by GAMERA franchise writer Niisan Takahashi, Yoshihiko Morimoto & Ichiro Ikeda instead go for a Road Movie with a adorable zest, as the writers follow the troupe from town to town struggling to turn their act into a success, as Shintaro succeeds in building a bond with them across the wind of youth. 11: Teenage Yakuza (1962)7 Returning to filming in black and white along with going back to build upon his gritty, youthful Film Noir era, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki makes a huge progression in his eye for shooting in outdoor locations with outstanding deep space scope staging for the final fight sequence, hit by the long, deep scope panning down the hillside as Jiro (played by a debonair Tamio Kawaji) is slammed into the dirt. Entering a hip Jazz club with a toe-tapping number that gets everyone's feet swaying (a major regular recurring setting and visual motif of Suzuki) Suzuki is joined by cinematographer Kenji Hagiwara and his regular editor Akira Suzuki, who he closely works with to build on his distinctive stylisation, via tracking Jiro's attempts to clean the streets of Ota with fluid zoom-ins, slick panning shots across the dance floor, and hard jump-cuts keeping Jiro's fights on a knife edge. Set in the city of Ota that sits between Tokyo and Yokohama, the screenplay by Mamoru Okusono & Nozomu Yoshimura reflect the location by fittingly place Jiro between the Sun Tribe teen flicks and the rough edge of Film Noir, as the pure youthful exuberance Jiro displays in keeping the streets safe, is tainted by a growing, regretful awareness of receiving underhanded payouts from shopkeepers to keep their stores safe, as Jiro looks out across the city and sees the arrival of the teenage Yakuza. 12:The Incorrigible (1963)10 For his first historical production set in the Taisho period, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki continues his long collaborations with editor Akira Suzuki & cinematographer Shigeyoshi Mine,whilst at the same time starting a future long-term collaboration with art director Takeo Kimura, all of which builds a rich lyrical atmosphere, as Suzuki continues to expand his eye for outdoor location shooting, with beautifully composed raining set-pieces scanned in Suzuki's long wide-angle shots. Getting inside away from the rain, Suzuki continues to build on his surrealist stylisation flourishes in long, stilted shots framed to keep the characters backs to the audience or partly obscured by them standing in the shadowy corners of rooms.crafting a mood of the audience listening in on private conversations. The first of two times he would work with Suzuki,Ryozo Kasahara's adaptation of the semi-autobiographical novel by Toko Kon (who would later work with the duo) takes the rebellious teenage man Togo Konno (played with a thoughtful quality by Ken Yamauchi) who finds himself in the middle of a huge cultural shift taking place, (a major recurring theme of Suzuki)and instead of moving him towards Noir, delicately places Konno in understated Melodrama. Kasahara wonderfully draws Konno's rebellious edge with a blossoming romance Konno forms with Emiko Okumura (played by a enticing Masako Izumi) over a love of the newly translated Western books entering Japan during the Taisho period,turning the pages to a divide between the traditionalist locals,and the free-spirited incorrigibles. 13: Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! (1963) 9 Descending into hell with a opening dialogue free shoot out between two gangs, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki reunites with his regular cinematographer of the era Shigeyoshi Mine and enters hell by making a huge progression in Suzuki's major recurring motif, that melts the hard edges of Film Noir into the ultra- stylisation of surrealist Pop-Art. Hanging at the back of smoke-filled corridors covered in moody Art-Deco grey and blacks that Tajima becomes surrounded in, Suzuki twirls the dark corridors and thick trench coats into starling colour,splashing swift whip-pans and rugged zoom-ins onto the sharp reds darted across the screen as the gang wars are given a high kick, with delightfully unexpected Musical numbers at hip Jazz clubs (a major recurring location in Suzuki's credits.) Keeping Tajima somewhat out of the loop from the police force by being a private detective who visits the station to listen in on tips from the cops, Iwao Yamazaki's adaptation of Haruhiko Oyabu's novel takes Tajima into the post WW-II Noir black market underworld of Japan with a wickedly biting comedic cynicism, as Tajima plays a sleight of hand on all the gang leaders who have their eyes on taking Manabe down, a move Tajima commits not for morals, but the hope of wiggling cash and a new identity out of the hands tied behind their backs police. Gliding on Harumi Ibe's silky Jazz score, Jo Shishido gives a great performance as Tajima, who Shishido holds with a cocky swagger of a devil may care loner who goes to hell. 14:The Flowers and the Angry Waves (1964) 8 The first of just four times across their decades-long team-up that he would do the art design,and get involved in the script process, the screenplay by Takeo Kimura/Kazuo Funahashi/ Koji Aoyama & Keiichi Abe cleverly takes the pulpy outline of two bands of samurai's at war with each other, and slyly bring them head-on into clashes taking place in the modern day, as lone voice Kikuji speaks up,and unionises his fellow samurai's, in order to protest against a rival gang gaining control of a port being built, whilst Kikuji also attempts to keep his romance with Oshige a secret. Wearing a cape and cackling, Tamio Kawaji sparkles as the scar-faced hitman Yoshimura, hired by the rival gang,and a boss Kikuji had hoped he had left to fade into the past, to knock Kikuji out from the optimistic future he is trying to reach (the divide between the war and post-war generations being a major recurring theme of the director.) Hoping to start with a clean slate, Akira Kobayashi gives a terrific turn as the fresh-faced Kikuji, who is given by Kobayashi a sinking feeling of the scars from his past returning. Continuing to expand on his meticulous eye for detail in the last successive 5 shots during the opening credits sequence establishing Kikuji and Oshige's romance,their runaway status,and the agitation left behind that will catch up to them, drawn up with a scattering of dialogue,and directing auteur Seijun Suzuki's distinctive wide-angle outdoor shots. Reuniting with regular cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka, production designer Takeo Kimura, composer Hajime Okumura,and editor Akira Suzuki, Suzuki displays a warming confidence, in continuing to build upon his surrealist Japanese New Wave visual motifs, swapping down in action set-pieces covering long tracking shots down rugged terrain in incredibly fluid tracking shots. Ending on a poetic snow covered final, Suzuki continues to build on a sharp use of jagged jump-cuts and distorted mid-shots catching a atmosphere of a sudden outburst of vilolence being just below the surface, as Kikuji swims against the angry waves. 15: Born Under Crossed Stars (1965)7 Reuniting with the lead actor,production designer,composer, editor and the scriptwriters from The Incorrigible (1963-also reviewed), this extensive reunion leads to directing auteur Seijun Suzuki visibly having a confidence to brilliantly expand on his Japanese New Wave surrealist stylisation motifs. Gripping the screen wipes featured in his past works, Suzuki and his long time editor Akira Suzuki and his regular cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka brilliantly twist them, into being based around the actions of the characters, as Suzuki tracks a wipe across the screen behind people walking across it,and uses the darkness of wipes to change morning into night. Spun on a breezy score by his then regular composer Hajime Okumura,that would turn out to be the last ever score Okumura did, Suzuki continues to build upon his major use of filming in outdoor locations, with a outstanding depth of field sequence taking Jukichi deep into the bamboo groves wilderness of the village. Censored by the UK film board due to animal cruelty, Suzuki continues to flourish in the off-beat staging of fight set-pieces, standing out in the inter-cutting of chickens fighting with Jukichi's free-wheeling battle against a macho tattooed manic in a dojo. Reuniting with Suzuki on screen,Ken Yamauchi gives a gleeful performance as Jukichi, whose serious, head-strong beliefs gets spilt by the playful Taneko (played by a enticing Yumiko Nogawa.) Having written the novel The Incorrigible (1963) was based on,Toko Kon here joins with returning scriptwriter Ryozo Kasahara for a excellent screenplay,which builds upon the entry of Western and Russian novels entering Japan during the Taisho period, (a period Suzuki would return to) and a semi- autobiographical examination of Kon's life, the writers turn the youthful rebellion Melodrama of The Incorrigible inside out with a spike-driven cynical edge of Jukichi brushing off any lessons he could learn from his time with the locals under crossed stars. 16: Tokyo Drifter (1966)10 Cindering his gritty black and white Film Noir's of the past with objects flickering into colour during the opening sequence, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki reunites with his regular cinematographer of the era Shigeyoshi Mine,and continues his long collaboration with production designer Takeo Kimura for a successful explosion into the Japanese New Wave (JNW). Continuing to build upon his distinctive surrealist stylisation, Suzuki gloriously dips the obscured framing of his Film Noir loners into vivid colour, heightening the surrealism into experimental avant-garde, as Suzuki and Mine dart the camera at razor-sharp zoom-ins on the bright red shirts and close-ups on faces only partially visible. Drifting into a hip Jazz club, (a major recurring location in his works) Suzuki moves to the beat of Hajime Kaburagi's brittle Jazz score, punching loner Tetsu's ( played by a excellent, cynical Tetsuya Watari) return to Tokyo with a startling minimalist edge, pulling the locations bare,until shards of JNW colours burst out landing on the screen to each shot Tetsu hands out to a gang led by Otsuka (played with a great simmering tension by Eimei Esumi-a recurring actor in Suzuki's works.) One of just three film credits to before he went to do Japanese superhero TV shows (programs not listed on movie sites) in the early 1970's, the screenplay by Yasunori Kawauchi superbly matches Suzuki's heightened surreal directing, by loading it with cracking Pop-Art dialogue which takes the dialogue to a absurdest,comedic level, pushing youthful Film Noir loner Tetsuya to the edge in order to display loyalty to his former boss, which Tetsuya gets rewarded for, by being left to drift. 17: Zigeunerweisen (1980)9 Submerging fully into the Taisho Period after having dipped into it in the past with The Incorrigible and Born Under Crossed Stars (1963 & 1965-both also reviewed), directing auteur Seijun Suzuki reunites with art director Takeo Kimura (here working with Yoshito Tada) and occasional cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka coming out of retirement. Completely free from studio demands in his return from the wilderness of TV to the big screen, Suzuki fully unleashes the avant-garde surrealist experimentation of red crabs, beautiful long tracking shots mirroring ghostly reflections and licked eyelids, which Suzuki had been building as a increasingly prominent element in his credits, into a eerie, dream-logic epic. Growing up in a family of textile workers, Suzuki continues to build on his keen eye for a dash of colour, in this case crumbling the pastel greens of the interiors and the rocky greys Nakasago (played with a mesmerising wild-eyed madness by Yoshio Harada-who stars in the trilogy) and Aochi (played by a haunted, buttoned-up Kisako Makishi) walk along in refined long takes held in hanging wide-shots for the outdoor locations, (the entire production was shot in real locations-a major recurring style of Suzuki) that grind a subtle, musky pallet, capturing the supernatural, frozen in time atmosphere. Taking inspiration from the novels of Hyakken Uchida, (despite taking whole paragraphs and using them as dialogue, the makers did not credit Uchida,classy move guys) Yozo Tanaka reunites with Suzuki after their team up for Gates of Flesh, and unveils a screenplay laying out Suzuki's canvas, from the wild Nakasago reuniting with his former,more luxurious colleague Aochi. The reunion unlocks a shared obsession to solve the meaning of inaudible mumbling on a Zigeunerweisen record, the grooves of which contains a haunting doppelgänger (played by a measured,subtle Naoko Otani ) who records a unshakeable supernatural presence, that in a discovery that chills him to the bones, Aochi finds places him in a groove which can't be stopped from being played. 18:Kagero-za (1981)8 The last ever production that cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka would work on, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki proves to be in perfect synch with his regular cinematographer,as the duo are joined by Suzuki's long time production designer Noriyoshi Ikeya and former long time editor Akira Suzuki making a return. Walking down to the great outdoors in the opening, Suzuki makes it gloriously visible that he has a full team on his side, with Matsuzaki (played by a wonderful Yusaku Matsuda,whose regal shell is cracked open by Matsuda,as Matsuzaki starts to question his reality) being wrapped in lush wet green surroundings hanging down the screen in long-take wide-shots (a major recurring motif of Suzuki.) Poetically bringing the curtain down on the Taisho period with a delightful stage show within a film final, Suzuki takes the surrealist stylisation that has been building across his credits, and slides it into abstract avant-garde, casting a eerie, sensual supernatural atmosphere with glistening Japanese New Wave jump-cuts being layered on long, lingering shot which dice down on Matsuzuko's unsettled doubts over meeting a mysterious woman who looks just like the wife of his benefactor. Stated later by Suzuki that he had wanted to make a adaptation of a Kyoka Izumi novel for years, the screenplay by Yozo Tanaka weaves elements from four Izumi novels (!) into a hypnotic tapestry,where each piece of Izumi's writings is placed next to a continuation of the doppelgänger, ghostly memories of Zigeunerweisen (1980-also reviewed),leading to a enticing friction on reality being created,which takes Matsuzaki to the end of the Taisho period. 19:Capone Cries a Lot (1985) 10 Wiping Capone’s tears away in the middle of his Taisho era trilogy (all also reviewed), directing auteur Seijun Suzuki continues to build on the expansive canvas marked out in the Taisho trio, but pausing the abstract aspect of those works, in exchange for continuing with his long-term editor Akira Suzuki and fellow regular comparator, art director Takeo Kimura (here co-working with Yuji Maruyama) for a dazzling explosion of the Japanese New Wave (JNW) Film Noir Pop-Art surrealism which has been a major recurring visual motif across Suzuki’s credits. Turning a abandoned amusement park in Japan into 1930’s Prohibition-era San Francisco, Suzuki twirls a ultra-stylised Screwball Comedy satire on Americana from the opening shot of a Film Noir gangster shown in silhouette wearing a hat and a cigar in his gob, which Suzuki spins out to left-field Musical numbers (a recurring occurrence in his credits) bursting with glossy Pop-Art colours and played on razor sharp JNW jump-cut editing. High-kicking a tribute to Charlie Chaplin with a gleeful laughing in the face of the Klan and the racist politics of the period, Suzuki takes prime American iconography in Umiemon (played by a superb Ken'ichi Hagiwara,who can whisk Umiemon’s care-free arrival to the US, together with a growing tough edge, with a impressive ease) travels to meet Al Capone,due to believing Capone is President. Keeping the surreal comedic weirdness bouncing, Suzuki snaps shimmering neon lights, cowboy hats and bustling Jazz clubs (a major recurring location of Suzuki’s) with a surrealist flourish of the wide-angle outdoor shots basking in the other worldly appearance of Umiemon’s (a major regular motif of Suzuki) local town, getting screen-wiped across the pond by fantastic long tracking shots along the side streets of San Francisco where Umiemon hopes to make his dreams of fame,and meeting Capone come true. Taking place at the end of the Taisho era, and coming after Suzuki had made two titles in his Taisho trilogy, which emphasised a abstract, meditating mood,rather then be focused on the plot, the screenplay by Suzuki’s art designer Kimura & Atsushi Yamatoya brilliantly uses the path of Suzuki’s then-recent work, to go in a delightfully left-field direction, throwing Screwball Comedy gum balls at Umiemon’s attempt to blend in with the locals. Noticeably featuring a prominent amount of dialogue in English for their adaptation of Sueyuki Kajiyama’s novel (who tragically died of cirrhosis of the liver at just 45 years old) the writers use the language divide for a tasty spoof of the ripe, bar-room brawling tough guys of American crime,that Umiemon finds cause his dreams to go up against animated mob shoot-outs,which cause Capone to cry. 20: Yumeji (1991)7 Taking a decade after the second to be filmed due to the producer having money trouble, and the last full solo feature the film maker would make for a whole decade, ( Pistol Opera (2001) being what broke the silence) directing auteur Seijun Suzuki reveals that he used the gap between both parts, to create new methods to expand his distinctive surrealist motifs, as Suzuki & cinematographer Jun'ichi Fujisawa draw Yumeji Takehisa’s painting with incredibly fluid tracking shots swinging through the icy dream-logic atmosphere going upwards to wide crane shots across the outdoor dour Gothic landscape. Reuniting with his long-term editor Akira Suzuki, Seijun Suzuki continues to spread Japanese New Wave jump-cuts scattering paintings across the walls,and elegantly framed dissolves bringing a ghostly presence into Takehisa’s paintings. Marking a huge departure from the vibrant colours of his other features, Suzuki strips the walls bare white,and hang the camera at floor level precisely centered, straight-on framed shots, held in long takes by the Suzuki’s that brush into the distortion of Takehisa. Joining with the Suzuki’s to complete the trilogy, the screenplay by Yozo Tanaka blends a loose examination of Yumeji Takehisa’s paintings, with a thoughtful conclusion to the doppelgänger psychological doubts, unshakeable ghosts keeping Tskehisa haunted by the past, and sensual paintings running red to a glittering final shot drawing a end to the Taisho era.
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Aug 3, 2020 2:12:12 GMT
Hi all,I hope everyone had a good weekend. The weekend before me and some friends went for a weekend away in Milton Keynes. Whilst on the train down,we found out that unlike the cinemas in are area,the Odeon in MK is now open for 3 days a week. Booking for a film none of us knew anything about, we returned to the cinema, in a screening with us and 10 other people,for what turned out to be a gem. The Vigil (2019) 8 Summoning a creepy atmosphere in his writing/directing feature film debut (after the short Arkane (2017)) Keith Thomas closely works with composer Michael Yezerski on layering unsettling texture to Ronen performing the Vigil ritual in a haunted house,via the grinding Industrial score agitating the friction in Ronen's mind over how real the ghostly sights he is seeing are. Spending the majority of the film in the Litvak household, Thomas & cinematographer Zach Kuperstein lock Ronen in with stylish, lingering wide-shots which Thomas gradually has creep up to Ronen for a holy jump-scare shock. Conjuring the Dybbuk in a compact opening, Thomas and Kuperstein wisely keep a chill of curiosity round the creature, via clipped blurred shots which reflect the blurred grip of reality Ronen has, leading to a great use of limited CGI for the face off final. Only performing the Vigil after getting offered a fistful of dollars, the screenplay by Thomas brews haunted house thrills, with religious Horror chills, as Thomas makes Ronen's night one which brings in the mythical Jewish possessing spirit the Dybbuk into the rituals that Ronen learns to find a maturity in performing. Whilst the sudden appearances of Mrs. Litvak (played with a relish by Lynn Cohen,who sadly passed away in 2020) do stand out as oddly placed, (can she not hear what's going on downstairs?!) Thomas makes excellent use of a mobile phone being Ronen's link to the outside world, with stand-out set-pieces held on phone calls that Ronen's increasingly finds to slither between reality and horror. The lone person on screen for large parts of the film,Dave Davis gives a excellent turn as Ronen, whose annoyance at having to do this job for cash is slowly burnt down by Davis to terror at the unknown arising, whilst at the same time discovering a respectfulness in holding a vigil. Directors fest: William Castle trio: The Iron Glove (1954) 4. Whilst unable to mask the low budget it was made under, made visible in wide-shots showing the limited number of extras standing in line waiting to fight the hero, director William Castle & cinematographer Henry Freulich are still able to iron out a jaunty swashbuckler atmosphere, thanks to autumn colours being weaved across the screen giving it the appearance of a child's history picture book,and elegant close-ups on Ann Brett,sending her beaming as a fair maiden. Unable to decide if he is putting on a Scottish or Irish accent, (it changes from scene to scene) and later very critical on the title, Robert Stack visibly appears uneasy reading the chewy dialogue from 5 writers (!), which actually brings out a endearing side to Captain Charles Wogan, thanks to Wogan finding himself awkwardly stuck in the middle of a power play situation. Holding the glove with a feeling of adventure, alluring Ursula Thiess gives a wonderful turn as Ann Brett,thanks to Thiess welding Brett having all the eyes of the men on her, with a playful kick to fight for the iron glove. The Crime Doctor's Warning (1945)6 Based on a radio series by Max Marcin, director William Castle displays a early spark of showmanship in his work with Scarface (1932) cinematographer L. William O'Connell by taking inspiration from another radio series: The Shadow. Hanging on the edge of windows waiting for a blackout to occur, Castle gives the killer a mysterious pulpy aura,as he flies across rooms covered in thick shadows which only clear once he has flown away and the victim is left dead on the ground. Keeping the good doctor on his toes with a neat Film Noir mystery which brushes off underhanded deadly dealings taking place in the art world underground, the screenplay by Eric Taylor enticingly fades into the edges of Horror. Taylor spins the prime suspect with regular blackouts that are used as pressure by his overbearing mother, and whilst the Hays Code was sadly in place, Taylor paints a macabre twist ending relating to the background of the killer, hinting at horrific actions which have not been modelled on the doctor's warning. 13 Frightened Girls (1963)7 Later calling the title "An international holiday" and displaying his trademark showman side by falsely claiming he had filmed 15 different versions of the movie (!) with a different actress in each one, director William Castle reunites with cinematographer Gordon Avil in continuing to depart from his Horror roots with a delightfully kitsch atmosphere. Jumping on the post-007 spy bandwagon early, Castle uses his eye for a gimmick in shimmering gold knives dripping with blood red paint placed in the bodies by agents stabbing for a jump-scare. Following Candy and her classmates leaving a idealistic boarding school in Switzerland for espionage deeds in London, Castle uniquely crosses the spy antics with the stylisation of teen Comedy flicks of the era,with hip kitsch splashes of glossy pink, yellow and red keeping Candy and her fellow students groovy with each take down. Taking to heart the spirit of the spy genre by working under the cover of a cute teen flick, the screenplay by Robert Dillon originally called The Candy Web, wonderfully continues in the direction of Castle's Zotz! (1962-also reviewed) by being a playfully sly Cold War Comedy, heated up with satirical dialogue between American Candy and Chinese student Mai-Ling on the frosty relation between both countries. Winning the role in a talent show contest run by Castle,Kathy Dunn gives a charming performance as Candy, whose sleuth spying skills Dunn twangs with a flirty quick-witted edge, keeping all unaware of Candy untangling the candy web. Pedro Almodóvar I'm So Excited! (2013)4 For his first production filmed with digital cameras, and revealing in the excellent Archives book by Paul Duncan that he went into the movie wanting “to recover the spirit and humour of my first films.”, writer/directing auteur Pedro Almodovar & his regular cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine fly the film on a casual atmosphere, where the plane, (the lone location for the majority of the movie) is designated with Almodovar’s distinctive primary colours, which are slightly toned down, due to Almodovar wanting it to look like a design a airline could actually do. Displaying his unique flamboyant eye with a delicious random dance number, Almodovar’s attempts at a playful, wacky mood sadly are left landing flat, as Almodovar flies in for close-ups of the gurning flight crew and passengers, whose overly flamboyant manners become grating as soon as take off begins. Discussing in Paul Duncan’s Archives book that the plane flying in the sky aimlessly was inspired by the political situation in Spain, the screenplay by Almodovar presents moments where it could travel to satire, from the Melodrama of passengers ringing distrusting partners on the lone phone the plane has, to the business class passengers being given drugs that make them more empathic,whilst those in standard are kept in the dark over the planes landing problems. Disappointingly, Almodovar takes a detour and drives the title into unfunny farce, where the frank dialogue lands with a thud, partly caused by a disregard of giving anyone a hint of character depth, and also avoiding the subtle, in exchange for the most broad, childish punchlines on this unexciting flight. 22:Julieta (2016) 10. Originally planning to call the feature Silence and as detailed in the Archives book by Paul Duncan that he originally planned the script to be filmed in New York, but “In the end I was defeated by uncertainty; I wasn’t sure of the script or my ability to direct in English.” leading it to be left aside for two years,until he picked it up again for a set in Spain version which he feels “Admirers of Alice Munro should see in my Julieta a tribute to the Canadian writer.” Moulding the material two years later on a opening shot of red fabric with a heart beating within it, which gets folded into a shot of a small naked man sculpture that gets placed into the hands of Julieta, setting off a recurring motif when Ava is depicted creating a small male sculpture, that represents the power of woman as the creator of man, and the shared personal straight they hold in the hands of writer/directing auteur Pedro Almodovar’s creation. Revealing later that he and his regular composer Alberto Iglesias had long discussions over finding the right tone for the score,Almodovar again displays his remarkable eye for colour coding stylisation, with Almodovar & cinematographer Jean-Claude Larrieu placing red (a prominent colour across Almodovar’s works) into every shot, stirring up a intense atmosphere from the grief and sorrow running in the blood of the characters, which is reflected on screen in a bright red. Draining all colour bar the beating red from bringing light to Julieta’s life,Almodovar reveals that he went into the production with the mind-set that “From the outset I had in mind that Julieta is a Drama,not a Melodrama.” which Almodovar expresses with a thoughtfulness of toning down his distant flamboyant colours, for startling pristine white peeled along wide-angle shots of a grieving Julieta living a hollow existence, detached from all the colour of life. Covering the first half of Julieta’s life,Adriana Ugarte gives a exceptional performance as the younger Julieta, who even in moments of happiness in the early days of her marriage to Xoan are carried by Ugarte with a melancholy pinned underneath, which Ugarte rings dry of sorrow when tragedy lands on the shore. Absolutely mesmerising when sitting alone mourning on a bench against the plain white background, Emma Suarez links her older Julieta to Ugarte’s younger version, with the aftermath of the tragedy remaining red raw and being pressed down by Suarez on the withdrawn shoulders of Julieta. For only the third adaptation he has ever done, Almodovar bakes the clay of three unconnected short stories by Canadian writer , which fittingly results in a fragmented state that captures Julieta, who each time she tries to put her family photo past together, finds that the fragments never neatly slot together. Leaving a mark on Julieta from the death of a stag seen outside a train as she makes love with the newly-met Xoan, Almodovar takes to heart the original Silence title of the picture, with the grief and sorrow being carried silently by Julieta, who Almodovar gives a wonderfully fragmented ending to, after Julieta has waited for her family with a bright red cake. Other flicks! No.5 Reversal (1989)8 Opening to the rich R&B of Ruth Brown over two lovers sitting in bed happily chatting to each other, writer/director Josephine Massarella (who has a striking cameo in the final frames) casts a ambient atmosphere of splashing waves across the screen and horizontal photos melting into the fragmented dialogue and white noise hissing to the breakdown and rebuilding of civilization,as number five goes backwards. The Man Who Loved Redheads (1955)6 Later saying that his feelings on his last feature film (he directed some TV episodes afterwards) project are that " I didn't like that - I didn't enjoy making it, or seeing it." director Harold French does well keeping his personal feelings off-screen,with French & cinematographer Georges Perinal threading a elegant atmosphere, with the upper class life of Mark St. Neots allowing him to be surrounded by the finest things in life,and his love for redheads being held by French in sparkling close-ups. Originally cast in the lead role before the producers got involved,Kenneth More still makes his presence felt as the narrator,with More performing the extensive narration from Terence Rattigan's adaptation of his own play, in a humorous,sardonic style. Playing not one,but four roles (!) Moira Shearer gives terrific turns as the red heads, thanks to keeping them slightly detached from Mark's whims, which helps to give each of the ladies a glamour shine, and to heighten Mark's love for redheads. Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein (2019)8 Unearthing a TV Horror special not seen since it originally aired, director Daniel Gray Longino & cinematographer Carl Herse record a loving pastiche to British TV Costume Drama's of the past, with hilarious sight gags of the actors all standing in one line,and saying their lines down the camera,rather than face to face, along with wonky special effects causing the walls of the set to shake, all topped by a spoof of a famous Orson Welles commercial being poured over the final. Whilst the ending is rather abrupt, Longino sands over it with a real attention to detail in creating the same flat, fuzzy, recorded on video appearance of old UK TV Costume Dramas, complete with wobbly camera panning shots,and zoom-ins jolting to a close-up. Bringing John Levenstein's witty fake documentary (not Found Footage) script to life, David Harbour gives a fantastic performance as himself and his dad (!), with Harbour nodding to Orson Welles,both in the tone of his fathers voice, and the serious manner in which he treats the pulpy rubbish of meeting Frankenstein's monster,monster.
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Post by marianne48 on Aug 3, 2020 2:30:34 GMT
Inside Daisy Clover(1965)--Rewatched this drama of a young starlet's rise and fall in Hollywood; compelling viewing, despite the anachronisms and the casting of Natalie Wood as a 15-year-old. Wood's hairstyle and makeup are all wrong for her character; the musical number and costume she wears are right out of the 1960s, not the 1930s; the filming of her big musical scene, in which she rushes from set to set during her song as if she were doing live television instead of a movie sequence (which of course would be shot in short bits and then edited together) is so inaccurate that it's laughable. Yet the movie is a lot of fun. A young Robert Redford is featured, Ruth Gordon is always great to watch, and Christopher Plummer is perfect as the smarmy studio head.
The Atomic Cafe(1982)--Another rewatch (in honor of director Kevin Rafferty, who passed away in July), this documentary is a compilation of film clips which chronicle the history of the nuclear bomb age from 1945 to the 1960s, and how the government attempted to downplay the horrors of nuclear war and show how it would be not that big a deal (pretty timely). Frightening, yet entertaining.
Arthur (1981) and Bedazzled(1967)--TCM showed a double feature of these Dudley Moore films, with the first getting a four-star rating and the second film three stars. It should have been the other way around. Arthur was considered an "instant classic" when it first came out; seeing it again after more than two decades, IMO, it seems to have lost its charm, if it ever had much. Moore plays an unhappy millionaire alcoholic who spends much of the movie cackling drunkenly; the rest of the characters just react to him, without being given much funny material themselves. John Gielgud won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for making snide, snobbish cracks. More annoying than funny. Bedazzled is much more inspired comedy, with Moore playing against his comedy partner, Peter Cook (his deadpan humor complements Moore's perfectly). Julie Andrews!
Clash By Night (1952) and Double Indemnity (1944)--Barbara Stanwyck is angry and sexually frustrated in two great examples of problematic relationships, violent emotions, and lots of smoking affectations. In the first, Robert Ryan really likes to toss those cigarettes around, and in the second, Fred MacMurray's method of lighting a match is a constant scene-stealer. Lots of great supporting performances in both films, and the dialogue(especially in the second film) is over-the-top classic movie prose.
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Aug 3, 2020 2:37:56 GMT
Night of the Creeps (1986) 7/10
What We Do in the Shadows (2014) 5/10
The Las Vegas Story (1952) 6/10
Burden (2018) 7/10
The Tall Stranger (1957) 4/10
Lure of the Wilderness (1952) 6/10
Uncut Gems (2019) 8/10
Trespass (2011) 3/10
Hi Pol,I hope you had a good weekend,what did you think of the Vegas Story? I found Price to be the standout in this movie by the Mary Poppins guy! From when I saw it in 2016: Gliding back to Vegas, Jane Russell (who looks very glamorous in the lavish dresses) gives her Femme Fatale Linda an elegant,playful edge,which becomes fully revealed in songs smoothly performed by Russell,who clouds Linda with an unease about being reunited with her past. Dressed to impress,Russell strips off Linda's glitz to unveil a wonderfully sharp,off the cuff manner, flared up by Russell getting Linda to hit Lloyd and Andrews with barb one-liners delivered by Russell with a spiky relish. A perfect match for Linda/Russell, Vincent Price gives a deliciously wicked performance as Lloyd,whose sharp exchanges with Linda, Price twist and turns into a mix of comedic and Film Noir menace. Caught between the couple, Victor Mature gives a firm, stoic performance as Andrews,but struggles to find breathing room between Russell and Price.Sliding like Flubber from live-action Disney flicks to Film Noir,director Robert Stevenson & cinematographer peel open the haunted Vegas past of Linda in stylish overlapping images that roll a ghostly atmosphere into the casino. Focusing on "the beautiful people" Stevenson still finds spots to dig into the dirt of Andrews unfulfilled romance,driven by great crane/helicopter shots looking down with Andrews at the Noir pit of Vegas. Introducing the Rollins as a couple,the screenplay by Paul Jarrico/Harry Essex/Earl Felton and Jay Dratler pulls the burnt veins of their Film Noir relationship out on the Vegas strip,spanning sour exchanges tangled in Lloyd's gambling debt and Linda's loveless relationship to Lloyd. Attempting to make Andrews and Linda an alluring Noir couple,the writers push Lloyd to the side lines in order to bring the bond between Andrews and Linda into the present,but tear the main Noir root due to Andrews lacking the Noir sparks of Lloyd,as the Vegas house wins on Film Noir. 7.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Aug 3, 2020 12:18:07 GMT
It was a SUPER week... Superman (1978) Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006) Superman III (1983) Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987) Supergirl (1984) Superman Returns (2006) Man of Steel (2013) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Justice League (2017) Suicide Squad (2016) Shazam! (2019) Green Lantern (2011) Aquaman (2018) Wonder Woman (2017)
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